Ground fault circuit interrupters are known in the art. Examples are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,047,775 and 3,213,321. These interrupters are large and costly to manufacture. Many of the prior art units are assembled from components and are easily disassembled or tampered with by the end user of the appliance. The prior art units which are assembled are not waterproof.
Some of the prior art structures are embodied in a plug or connector. These units are assembled. Examples of such units are found in the prior art listed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,544 to Pass and Seymour PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,761,774 to Black and Decker PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,906 to Matsushita PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,358 to Sunbeam PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,643 to JDS Products Inc. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,464,582 to Aragaki et al PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,022 to Lewiner et al PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,579 to Sprague PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,223 to Chien-Chun PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,154 to Philips
Nowhere in the prior art is there found a miniature interrupter or the like which is formed or moulded with a plug or separate module connected to the power cord which provides a watertight package, which is economical to manufacture, and which is not serviceable by the end user.
There is therefore a need for a cost effective miniature fault interrupter for an appliance which is formed or molded with a plug connector or the like and is not subject to tampering. This need is not satisfied by those structures known in the art.
It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide an interrupter for a primary circuit which is economical to manufacture with the appliance or the like being protected.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an interrupter formed or molded with the connector or plug of the power cord which is sealed, watertight and not serviceable by the appliance user.
Further and other objects of this invention will become apparent to a man skilled in the art when considering the following summary of the invention and the more detailed description of the preferred embodiments illustrated herein.